>> "teen kids news" starts right now, and we've got a lot to report. >> i'll tell you about a serious disorder that affects a surprising number of teens. >> i'll tell you about a garden that's helping teens blossom. >> are you getting enough sleep? if you're like most teens, the answer is "no." >> in case of an emergency, there's something every home should have. actually, it's three things, and i'll tell you what they are. >> why is virginia known as. "the mother of presidents"? you don't need to ask your mother. we'll tell you why in this week's "flag facts." >> see how a passion for pastry can get you started on a tasteful career. >> that and much more, so keep watching "teen kids news."

>> welcome to "teen kids news." i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm livia. here's our top story for this week. >> one in 200 young people have it. it can disrupt your schoolwork, your friendships, and take a toll on your self-esteem. as carina reports, it's called ocd -- obsessive-compulsive disorder. >> most of my symptoms were of um... of, like, cleansing. i had to wash my hands multiple times. it wasn't a certain number, but it was like, "this isn't enough. this isn't enough. this isn't enough." >> i realized michael had ocd when one night we were in his room and he went to close his

drawers, and the drawers were closed already, and he continued to close them and close them and close them, and i said, "michael, the drawers are closed." he said, "i'm just checking, mom. i'm just checking." >> michael has ocd. it's a disorder that affects behavior. >> i think the best way to understand what it is is to relate to something that everyone kind of thinks of in their own life. so, "obsessive," in usual day-to-day language means "someone who thinks a lot or someone who's a worrier." when you think about "compulsive," typically when we're saying that in kind of a day-to-day way, we're meaning someone who's very particular. they're very neat. they're very organized. when you use "obsessive" and "compulsive" in "obsessive-compulsive disorder," though, it really refers to an anxiety disorder. and by "anxiety disorder," we mean that your anxiety system is kind of kicking on all the time and for, really, no good reason. >> in other words, when there's real danger, anxiety can be a good thing. it alerts us to the hazard.

but people with ocd have anxiety even when theis no danger, and that affects how they relate to the world around them. >> what people do when they have ocd is they find that if they engage in some kind of behavior, usually some sort of repeated behavior, that will make their anxiety go down. >> this repetitive behavior started to affect michael's life at home. >> michael would shower -- take two hours to shower, maybe longer. then, since he's all clean, he didn't want to go outside and get dirty, so he'd put his pajamas on and be in bed, 2:00 on a beautiful sunny day. and he would be crying because he wanted to go outside. >> the obsessions and compulsions also affected his life at school. >> when i was at school, i would do some other stuff, like think about "when i get home, will i take a shower?" "when i get home, will i wash my hands?" these thoughts were just awful because i couldn't focus on

classwork, and i wasn't getting very good grades from it. >> so, michael and his mom went looking for help. >> the number-one treatment for this is what we call kind of a "face your fears" therapy. so, let's use an example outside of ocd. if you're afraid of dogs -- you see a dog, you run away from the dog. it makes you feel better in the short term, but now you're afraid of all dogs. so, in a "face your fears," we have you slowly be around dogs more often. in the short term, your anxiety goes up. the news is, if you stay around the dog, then your anxiety actually stops getting worse and will start to get better. >> this type of behavior modification is called e.r.p. -- "exposure and response prevention." >> 80% of kids that try exposure and response prevention get much better with their ocd symptoms. [ scale playing ] >> michael, we're happy to report, is one of those successful kids. >> i still do get compulsions. you can't get rid of ocd, and

you're gonna still get them. a couple times, i didn't want to go to the therapist, and i said to my mom and dad that i would rather live with ocd. but that's how much it just takes over your life, that you just want to say that "i want to live with ocd," but just don't fall for that. >> if you think you or a friend may have ocd, don't ignore it. get help. ocd isn't something to be ashamed about. it's something that needs to be treated. >> don't go away. we've got lots more still to come on "teen kids news." >> we'll be right back. >> syrian troops trying to maintain their grip on the country after a major rebel advance in two main cities. [ explosions ] both the syrian regime and opposition forces claiming victory in syria's largest city, aleppo.

rebels seizing a military base on the outskirts of the city, while government troops mount a ground attack with tanks. the u.n. reporting that about 200,000 civilians have fled the fighting there. the arab league, a coalition of arab countries, saying the government's actions are equivalent to war crimes. republican presidential candidate mitt romney wrapping up a foreign trip that includes stops in britain, israel, and poland. the former massachusetts governor traveling overseas to strengthen his foreign-policy credentials. during his time in israel, romney setting himself up as that country's strongest ally ahead of the november 6th presidential election. >> i believe that the enduring alliance between the state of israel and the united states of america is more than a strategic alliance -- it's a force for good in the world. >> romney also shoring up money for his campaign, raising more than $1 million at a jerusalem fundraiser. the u.s. reeling from the worst drought in five decades -- over

a thousand counties in six midwestern states have been declared disaster areas. hot, dry conditions causing crops to wither and die across farmland, forcing corn, soybean, meat, peanut butter, and other staple food prices to rise. farmers saying the weather in the next 30 to 60 days will determine their final yields and, perhaps, what consumers pay. for "teen kids news," i'm laura ingle, "fox news channel in the classroom." >> let's face it -- disasters strike just about anywhere and anytime. and while you can't prevent bad things from happening, as lauren reports, there are steps you can take to make the experience a bit less disastrous. >> hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blackouts. fortunately, they don't happen often. but when they do, you need to be prepared. the american red cross says there are three things your family should do before you find

yourselves in an emergency situation. >> the first step is to build a kit. have a kit already ready with all the things you might need during an emergency, so all you got to do is grab it and go. you may not have time to run around and put all the things you might need in an emergency, so having it ready ahead of time is really the key. >> so, what do we pack in a typical kit? i'm here with renee kelly, who's also from the american red cross. so, renee, what's first? >> so, the first thing is a first-aid kit, which is really important. it's always great to have that. so you can put that in. >> okay. and next? >> the next thing is a blanket -- your own personal blanket. roll it up, throw it in the bag so it's already there. >> okay. >> the next thing, of course, is water. always good to have water there, so grab some bottles, throw them in the bag. you'll be ready to go. >> mm-hmm. >> the next fun thing is a flashlight -- a wind-up flashlight. why don't you give that a whirl? you wind it up. that way, you don't need batteries, and it's ready to go. so, let's see how it works. >> how useful. >> pretty cool, huh? another cool wind-up is a radio, which you can get from redcross.org or any store.

and you wind it up, as well, and that way, you don't need the batteries necessarily for this, and you can hear what's happening with the news and kind of stay informed. so it's always good to have that, as well. >> definitely. >> another thing that's important is headphones and chargers, of course, because you want to have your music, and you want to be able to listen to it wherever you are. so if you have an extra set of headphones, that's cool, but if not, when something's happening, grab your headphones, throw them in the bag so that you're ready and your charger so that if you're somewhere and you can charge your phone or whatever else you have. another thing that's really important, for me, is i love to eat, as well -- is having snacks. so you can grab snack bars, cereal, anything that you can kind of just open, snack on the go. you just throw it in your bag so you can grab some of this and be ready to go. >> okay. >> the other thing is, you never know where you're gonna be, how long, if you're in a shelter, so it's nice to kind of have wipes. you can wipe your own self down. you don't have to use anybody else's stuff, so it's always good to have a good bag of wipes so you can just be ready. >> very clean. >> these are a couple of personal things -- magazines never know how long you're gonna be in a place, so your own

personal magazines. and something that i think is really cool is like a notepad and a pen. you can keep notes of what's happening, kind of keep track with your family. so that's the basic things that go in your bag. you're ready to go. zip it up. if there's an emergency, you grab it, and you're all set. >> those are some great tips. thanks so much. >> you're welcome. >> okay, if your family has a kit ready, what's step two? >> step two is to make a plan, and that would be a plan for both you -- what you're gonna do during an emergency -- and a plan for your family -- how they're gonna communicate with each other, where they might want to meet up. >> and what's the third step? >> the third step is to be informed. how are the authorities going to communicate? what are the evacuation routes? or what do they want you to do? do they want you to evacuate? do they want you to shelter at home? those types of things. >> this is just some of the information you and your family need to have. to learn more, visit the red cross website. for "teen kids news," i'm lauren. >> now we're going to run a state flag up the pole. scott has the facts that makes this one stand out.

>> virginia is often called "the mother of presidents." four of our first five presidents were born there. since then, four more presidents have been proud virginians. >> virginia's state flag is a reference to overthrowing king george. you see the roman goddess virtus standing atop a tyrant, and she's holding a sword in one hand, a spear in the other, and the tyrant is laying on the ground with his crown knocked off of his head. >> it's hard to see, but the tyrant holds a broken chain and a broken whip. "sic semper tyrannis" means "thus always to tyrants." with flag facts, i'm scott. >> if you love planting things,

you'd fit in with the crew of teens at a very special garden. harry has the story of kids who get to teach others about taking care of the planet and its plants. >> the new york botanical garden is sort of a disney world for plant lovers. calling itself "a museum of living plant collections," it's bigger than 200 football fields. visitors come from around the world to see its rose garden, as well as the beautiful conservatory -- a giant hothouse for tropical and desert plants. and its adventure garden is home to a special internship called the explainer program. >> the explainer program is for high-school students, 14 to 17 years old, to volunteer in the children's garden. they volunteer 125 hours working with young families and their children to explore nature and do different activities in the adventure garden. >> the activity stations are found throughout the children's area. >> so, here, we were showing the kids about the frogs, just, like, some of the organisms that

live in our pond, and also the plants, too. so, the duckweed are really tiny flowers that ducks love to eat when they come and visit us. and there's a whole bunch of other insects, too. like that blue thing right there, flying around? that's a dragonfly. >> this is the "potting up" station, so what we do is we have kids take a little thing, a biodegradable pot, and we have them fill it up with dirt, and they pot up a plant. and we explain to them how there's a lot of different types of wildflowers, how to water them -- make sure they water them every day, not over-water them -- how to take care of a plant, over here, and then give them a bag, write their name on it 'cause they usually come in groups. then they take it home. >> a knowledge of nature isn't the only thing these teens take away from the experience. >> i learned that you have to adjust to certain types of people. not everyone learns the same way, so it's different teaching a person in kindergarten and a person in 8th grade. >> some kids are very shy. some kids will ask a lot of

questions. and you have to know how to handle each kid differently. >> their social lives are greatly improved by having a million new friends when they come here as explainers, and they get to spend a lot of time in nature and get out of the city in kind of a funny way, 'cause they're right in the middle of the bronx, but they're actually experiencing a little piece of nature here. we have an article this morning. "in midwest, flutters may be far fewer." this is a very dark and depressing article about how milkweed, the loss of milkweed, is affecting -- guess what kind of butterfly. >> monarchs. >> since we learn a t about ecology here, i might want to major in something related towards that or biology when i go on to college and pursue my career. so i suppose this program sparked my interest in what i want to do later in my life. >> no question about it -- the explainer program helps these teens plant the seeds for future success, whatever career path they may take.

for "teen kids news," i'm harry. >> it's time for "word." [ applause ] find the real meaning that matches the word. let's start with "archaic." it's an adjective. does it mean... [ bell rings ] the answer is "ancient or old-fashioned, out of date" -- as in "'groovy' is an archaic phrase that came back to life with austin powers." what about "demur"? notice there's no "e" on the end. that would make it a different word. this is "demur" -- the verb. it's either... [ bell rings ] "demur" means "to hesitate or object," usually because you're concerned about something. if you offer me a three-day-old fish sandwich, you can bet i'll demur. [ high-pitched laughter ] now let's try this. "epitome" -- it's a noun. it either means...

[ bell rings ] "a thing or person that is typical of everything in its class," as in "she is the epitome of a great student. she watches 'kids news.'" >> all: wow! >> that's "word." [ patriotic music plays ] >> a soldier's uniform in the 1770s was nothing like it is today.

sean dermond is a living-history interpreter. he shows us how a colonial soldier would dress for battle. >> we have with us, here, a typical continental soldier, an enlisted man. we start at the bottom. he has the buckled shoes. this was before laces become very common. we have, then, the stockings and the knee breeches. they go right to the knee. he has summer wear, here. this is linen. this is very lightweight. the coat is all wool. over the breeches, we have the vest, or the weskit, as it's known. over here, we have the bayonet. this goes on the end of the gun. it makes the gun then, basically, a 6-foot spear. it's named after bayonne, france. a lot of the military names are french derivatives. and that goes on the end of the gun. on his shoulder carriage, he's got his canteen for his water. he's got his haversack, right here, which his provisions would be, his food -- the meat, the cheese, the bread, when they were lucky enough to get that. on the other side, he's got his cartridge box.

this is where all his ammunition would be stored. he's got a rag right here to wipe down his musket. he's got a neck cloth around his neck. this later becomes the three-piece suits -- the jacket, the vest -- later becomes the trousers -- and that becomes the necktie. on top of his head, he has the tricorne, or the cocked hat. it's not a very practical hat. it doesn't keep the sun off his face, but it looks good, and back then, people were very fashion-conscious. they loved their clothes. here is a common soldier of the american revolution. >> it's time to get your opinion in "speak of the week." >> with all the work that piles up, we want to know -- how much sleep do you get on a school night? >> uh... seven or eight hours. i pretty much start homework early just to get ahead of

myself and, yeah, get a good night's sleep. >> i'd say about six hours -- probably even less. >> not much recently. like about five hours per night 'cause i just had so much homework to do. >> about seven hours. >> usually, i try to get around eight. >> usually about six or seven hours. i'm up till about midnight on most nights because i have a lot of work and sometimes i procrastinate, so a combination of those two. >> i get about seven or eight hours of sleep 'cause of homework and also 'cause i'm doing other stuff, like watching tv. >> well, normally, due to the huge amount of work we receive on an average school day, i don't go to bed earlier than 10:30 because there's a lot of stress from the work -- like homework, you worry if you don't finish it. you maybe forgot something. so i usually don't go to bed earlier than 10:30. >> according to the national sleep foundation, the average teen needs 9 1/4 hours of sleep a night. i could do that -- if i didn't have to do homework.

for "teen kids news," i'm diyu. >> if there's a smartphone in your family, you know the phrase "there's an app for that." now there's one for people who love pandas. it lets you follow the life and times of pandas at the san diego zoo. >> it used to be that cakes for special occasions were pretty ordinary. but tv shows like "cake boss" and "ace of cakes" have changed that, elevating cake decorating to a new art form. so, how do you become a pastry chef extraordinaire? nicole tells us that if you have the right talent, the job is a piece of cake. >> i've made a skull cake, i've made a cake that looks like a bag -- all of those fun things. part of it is just, you know,

more and more people are looking for new and different things and realizing that cake artists can create almost anything in cake. >> lindsey gamble is part chef, part artist, and seemingly part magician. it's hard to believe that she creates these tasty sculptures out of little more than frosting. >> there always is a little bit of structure inside the cake because, obviously, it's cake, and you can only stack cake up on cake so much. but aside from that, everything is edible. it's all made out of sugar, gum paste, and fondant. all of the glitter is edible. all of the paint is edible. >> watching lindsey work, you'd think she was born with icing in her veins. but not so. >> i actually was in accounting a long time ago, and i hated it. i had always baked with my grandmother. i'd grown up with my mother, who's an artist, and i was very passionate about those things but didn't think i could make a

career out of it. >> but then, help arrived. actually, it was an article about specialty cakes sent to her by her mom. seeing how well art and baking mixed together inspired lindsey. >> so, i moved over to paris, and i went to the cordon bleu. >> that's a famous school for chefs. for those of you not studying french, "cordon bleu" means "blue ribbon." >> i worked as a chocolatier and a pastry chef, sort of honing the baking side of things and was always doing my art on the side of that, and eventually just came into what we have here. >> armed with a new recipe for success, lindsey started elegantly iced, where she creates custom cakes for all occasions. sometimes, her artistic masterpieces look too good to eat. >> people say all the time, "oh, how can you cut into it?" because it's cake. it's delicious, and it's meant to be eaten, and it should absolutetaste as delicious as it looks beautiful. >> so, what advice does she have

for teens who may want to have their cake and eat it, too? >> if you want to be a cake decorator, practice. practice, practice, practice, practice. and you have to realize you're not gonna get it right the first time. i didn't get it right the first time. and who knows? maybe you'll be the next person who makes the technique that's the most famous and everyone else wants to copy that thing that you're doing. >> being a pastry chef isn't easy, but it's all worth the effort for sweet success in the food business. i'm nicole for "teen kids news." >> we'll see you next time on "teen kids news." >> thanks for watching. have a great week.